MARK: So, I’m fascinated, as you know. I’m a big movie guy, and I thought this was interesting: that you’re behind a film that is bringing — or has brought — French filmmakers to here in Saint Louis to do a project. Tell me about it.

SEAN: The film is called “The Ground Beneath Our Feet” and we’re describing it as “an American road movie that spans 250 years.”

MARK: (laughs) “The Ground Beneath Our Feet” not to be confused with “The Wind Beneath Our Wings.” Bette Midler is not doing a song for this movie, is she?

SEAN: Not yet.

MARK: OK, good. So, is it a historical drama?

SEAN: We’re trying to tell two stories at once.

MARK: OK.

SEAN: There’s a contemporary storyline about an American ex-pat who has lived most of his life in France, and gets called back to America for a family emergency, and ends up having to drive across half the country. So, that’s one road trip.

MARK: In what era is that set in?

SEAN: That’s contemporary.

MARK: OK. So that’s modern day… then you flash back to how long ago?

SEAN: To the 1750s, and 1760s, and 1770s. So, the time just as Saint Louis is being founded. And one of the scenes — a lot of this takes place in Illinois, what was called “Pais de Illinois,” the country of the Illinois Indians — and there were thousands of French people living in Illinois up until 1763, when the Seven Years’ War ends with the Treaty of Paris, and the King of France cedes all the territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain.

So, imagine, you’ve lived in Illinois — you’re a Frenchman — you’ve lived there for maybe 200 years, your family. You’ve got farms, you’ve made communities starting in Cahokia all the way down to Kaskaskia.

MARK: It’s amazing when you think about the history.

SEAN: Oh, it is. And then suddenly, the rug gets pulled out from underneath your feet. So, that’s what the movie’s about: for both of those characters, the contemporary one and the historical one.

An Update on the Project — We have made a decision to postpone the filming of The Ground Beneath Our Feet until 2015. We need more time to raise money for the project and we want to continue work on the script. The French guys have a limited time they are available this summer and will have more time to film in 2015. All of us feel good about this decision because we are committed to making the very best film we can and the extra time will make that possible.

We want to thank all of our donors and friends who have supported us. Without your enthusiasm for this project we would be unable to complete it. But we will complete it and the finished product will be a film we are all proud to have a part in bringing to light. Thank you for the support. And thank you for sharing our Facebook page with your friends. Please continue to spread the word about the film.

Actually, to be fair, Gregg has been on the team for awhile now. When Théo, Alex, and Aurélien were in Saint Louis several weeks ago, we borrowed a ton of equipment from Gregg: a couple camera bodies, some kickass optics, and some lights. But Seán has talked Gregg into accompanying us for parts of our road-trip (parts not already covered by Kent Phelan) to document the making of The Ground Beneath Our Feet.

The producers call it “an American road movie spanning 250 years.” It’s also an attempt to depict French colonial life in the region in the early days of the City of Saint Louis.

“The Ground Beneath Our Feet” tells two stories simultaneously: one is a contemporary tale of Tom, a young ex-pat American who lives in France and is called back to his hometown of Albuquerque. A little strapped for cash, Tom struggles to find his way across half the country to Saint Louis, where he confronts a family emergency that shakes him to the core.

The second story, told initially through flashbacks and then through a degree of magical realism, is the story of a young single father living in Le Pays de Illinois in the mid-18th century. Jean Brûlé is raising his daughter, Anne, near Prairie du Rocher, Illinois.

In the Autumn of 1763, a bigwig from New Orleans arrives at Fort de Chartres with his 14-year-old stepson in tow. Laclede and Chouteau tell les habitants about the treaty signed in Paris earlier that Spring in which the King had ceded French territory East of the Mississippi to Great Britain.

The French families of the Illinois Country are told that the land where their families have lived for hundreds of years is no longer French territory. The news is, of course, shocking.

Their migration away from Illinois was gradual, but steady. Some returned to Quebec. Some went across the river to Ste. Genevieve. Some went to New Orleans. And some went to the new village founded by those two visitors to the Fort: Saint Louis.

But some went much further West: to Texas and New Mexico. (Galveston, TX was founded by a man who grew up in Kaskaskia, IL. The legendary Billy the Kid was shot and killed in New Mexico in the home of a Frenchman who had come from Illinois.)

As Jean Brûlé makes his journey to New Mexico in 1764, he passes through the same monumental landscape Tom drives through more than two centuries later.

The story at the heart of “The Ground Beneath Our Feet” tries to dig deep into the human experience of having the rug pulled out from underneath us: how do we re-group, re-think, re-imagine our lives when we think calamity has made it impossible to go on?

The two characters — while separated by some 250 years — share the experience of loss and re-invention. And the filmmakers hope their stories will cause audiences to renew their own confidence in the human ability to recover and move on.

We are thrilled to announce that photographer Kent Phelan will join us this summer to document the making of The Ground Beneath Our Feet. He’ll be taking photographs behind-the-scenes and of our locations as we travel around the country. Kent is an extraordinary photographer: elegant and careful, and capable of capturing not only moments, but moments with soul.

Kent and Teresa Phelan came to the kickoff reception we held in Saint Louis when three of the French filmmakers were scouting locations. In a room filled with 60 people, I noticed that Kent and Théo, our director of photography, had eased themselves to the edge of the room and were deep in conversation — an intergenerational meeting of the minds, I thought. And it made me glad.

I admire Kent’s work for all sorts of reasons. Partly, it’s my admiration of his craft: his careful work to document tone and texture and color and pattern. You see it in his landscapes and shots of architecture. You see it in his urban photographs and his rural pictures, alike.

Our film is partly about landscape — the French say “le paysage.” In my role as armchair etymologist, I see in their word for landscape the word for country, for a people. It hints at the root of our major theme: we are connected to one another through the ground beneath our feet.

I especially like that Kent Phelan and his camera will be around to document this work of ours this summer, and the happy faces of the people who will make it.

If you’re interested in helping us make this film, please visit our Support page for information on making a donation and to learn about the premiums that are available at all levels of giving. And thanks.

The time has come to raise the money to make “The Ground Beneath Our Feet.” Watch the short video and consider supporting the project. Large gifts and small ones — they all add up. Thank you for being generous and helping to realize this vision.

The Story

The Ground Beneath Our Feet tells the story of loss and reinvention across lifetimes and generations. Shot in 2015, it is set in the monumental landscapes of the United States: from the Desert Southwest to the prairies of the American heartland.